By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--October 13, 2017
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Mr. Trump’s speech on Friday will start what officials expect to be a lengthy diplomatic process to negotiate ways to strengthen the Iran accord, first with European officials and perhaps eventually with Iran, either by revisiting the accord or by enacting related but freestanding agreements. Among the U.S. concerns, the Trump administration has criticized the Iran deal for limits on Iran’s nuclear activity that eventually will expire—known as “sunset clauses”—and has faulted the agreement for not addressing Iran’s ballistic missile program. European ambassadors in Washington have spent time in recent days meeting with U.S. lawmakers to express their willingness to discuss U.S. concerns about Iran and even the agreement, but that the U.S. must first make clear it will abide by the deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron last month floated the idea of supplementing the agreement with separate pacts to “control Iran’s ballistic [missile] activities, and to govern the situation after 2025,” when the deal’s limits on Iran’s nuclear work start to expire. Other countries also have expressed concern about the IRGC, the elite military organization that reports directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and has a command structure separate from Iran’s traditional armed forces. The IRGC was established following the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and has grown to dominate Iran’s economy, with holdings in property, oil and gas and telecommunications. U.S. officials estimate the IRGC controls as much as 50% of Iran’s economy. Mr. Trump is expected to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group under an executive order that was created after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to target terrorist financing. It would not be classified as a foreign terrorist organization under more punitive U.S. laws, officials said.
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